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Because I care. It's still out there. Don't get used to it. It just takes one guy who thinks his cough is no big deal. Seriously, sorry to be a downer. But those pictures make me cringe. Outbreak imminent. https://covidactnow.org/us/missouri-mo?s=1202293 Here's a better graphic.

The sun came up today, that's good enough for me.

Thanks for the kind words gents. It’s been a tough couple of weeks, but life has to go on. Nothing EVER prepares you for losing a parent. It is strange how people still think it’s not real or play Russian roulette with theirs and other people’s health / lives. I do estimate - and I say this with a positive mindset - that this thing will be with us for at least 5 years. The positive being, knowing this fact, we accept and adapt to a new normal and make it work with our lives. This is my logical unemotional view: Q3 next year we have a fully tested (albeit rushed) vaccine, but it won’t be widely available and prioritised in its dispensation. Most likely the very wealthy and societal / political elites first then the old and infirm, then Jo Public. With a wider availability there will undoubtedly be a backlash with as yet unknown or more severe side effects than anticipated. Therefore many people would likely reject it in the near term - who wants to be a guinea pig, right? Then there is the challenge of getting it to everyone within our respective borders once considered safe. That’s all lovely, but what about other parts of the world following similar timelines and widespread availability? Those people who will cross borders either as business people, tourists or refugees etc who may not have had the means or availability to be immunised. This is of course assuming big pharma does not get a greedy gold rush mentality and governments having a strong degree of influence and not being complicit. An example is a recent Covid home test kit that is available in your local pharmacy (great I thought) but at £120 a test it’s not practical for the “average” wage earner to use effectively unless heavily subsidised. Certainly the challenges posed by the likes of my buddy who are anti-vaxxers can’t be addressed overnight without major unrest and human rights challenges coming to the fore. Meanwhile, the big corporates etc are busily farming jobs to low cost offshore locations to reduce the impact of Covid on profit margins. Equally realising that remote working is really quite effective and real-estate / business travel isn’t as essential as previously envisioned. So our previous world equilibrium has been greatly upset and unlikely to return. Having ran a global offshoring programme for a large European bank where we took 6000 jobs to India in 2 years, I saw first hand the issues that resulted with many of those jobs coming back to onshore low cost locations. A discussion for another time. So, fore armed with acknowledging this reality of a new normal, we must strive to keep ourselves and others as safe as humanly possible while walking life with practical feet.

Last weekend, a group of Z enthusiasts gathered in Branson MO for the 1st annual fall Pumpkin Spice Edition of Branson Z Fest. The gathering began Wednesday and ended on Sunday. During the festivities, on Saturday, there was a judged car show. Judges included myself, Scott McElroy, and head judge on loan from Capitol Z Club in Texas, Mike W. With the judging complete, Mike W took over the closing ceremony, and limited edition T shirt awards were handed out to some special cars and people. Big thanks to Chris Carl of the ZCCA and Josh Lyman of the Ozark Z Club for assisting with the introductions. However, a very special award was given to a member of the NW Arkansas Z Car Club to honor the memory of Mr Yoshihiko Matsuo. Jim Daniels - Zup was the first recipient of this award. Congratulations Jim! No one in the club deserved it more. With the conclusion of the T shirt competition awards, Mike W announced that one car had scored exceptionally well in the first round of judging and had advanced to a second round of judging. With great fanfare & drama, Mike announced that with a score of 295 .... Zup's stunning and true to originality 73 240z was awarded the Gold Medallion Trophy & Plaque by the NW Arkansas Z Car Club, retiring the car from Pumpkin Spice competition. What a great moment! Really big congratulations Jim!! Jim & Walt feeling the heat of competition....

Maybe that is why a $5000 bid was just retracted. lol "Oh it's got guano..... No thanks" Now back to $3650.00

Alright just an update for anyone who wanders into this forum topic with the same problem. There WAS a vacuum leak at the hose connecting to the aux air reg, I still have literally no possible idea how that leak made such a loud whistle, my ears would actually start to ring if I sat too close to the engine for too long. Anyways, I tightened down the hose and the whistle eventually died out. This then allowed me to set the idle with the screw to 700. So now the car runs like an absolute champ, thanks for the help guys.

That is a GREAT idea!! I'd like to see the same thing before you board an airplane.

On international travel... Back in the 50's when I was an Army brat my dad got stationed in Germany. At that time there were a series of shots the whole family had to have to go from the USA to Germany and then again to come back to the US. It may be that this type of restriction would be implemented again when a vaccine becomes available. No vaccine - you're not allowed to enter the given country.

That's the drain for the aftermarket A/C, note how the floorboard metal is pushed out crudely. The cowl drain is hidden behind the fender just forward of the door hinges, is a large tube.

I agree with your analysis of the time line. People have a lot of wishful thinking and many fail to think this through. Viruses don't go away. We have to live with this from now on, like we do with the flu virus. Not a year, not 10 years, but from now on. I think there will be vaccine(s) by the end of the year, but they won't be well distributed for months, and given our for-profit health care system, they won't be priced for low income people to take them. Because of this, there will be an increased rate of CO-19 infections among low income groups for a long time. The stupidity of people who fight using masks and distancing will continue. The anti-vaxxers will add to the non-compliant numbers and claim everything from "principle" to "gummint plot to pollute our precious bodily fluids" (see also: General Jack. D. Ripper, Dr. Strangelove.) I'm not planning to do much traveling other than in my own car for the next year or so. If multiple vaccines come out, I may, just may, decide to use air travel, but I want to see a track record first.

Here's something for anyone finding the original question. These cars are full of clunking and thumping possibilities. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1976-datsun-280z-38/

@AK260 Checked the front diff mount, but it was basically new (at least in appearance) so I kept looking. Traced back the issue and have found the source of my noise. I installed new poly bushings and had tightened my control arm bushing retainer bolts, but had not torqued them because the service manual recommends doing it on the ground. Long story short, forgot to torque the inside ones before my test drive so there was a little play. Torqued them to 105 ft/lbs and its cut down the nose significantly.

Nice opportunity to enjoy coffee with a good dose of bourbon cream added....

Good advice above. You could also carry a can of starting fluid with you. When the engine dies, give it a shot and see if it starts.

Special recognition to jfa.series1 for trophy consulting. Thanks Jim!

When numbers get to 1/2 million deaths the circle will get closer . Maybe then people will understand? Watched a great documentary on the Spanish Flu. The similarities are striking . Another time when politics got in the way of saving lives . If this strain was as bad as that one , we would be in worse shape yet. I feel for the kids that grow up in this generation and have to put up with our selfishness . If we were in an actual Cold War with China or Russia and we knew they started this virus , would we still be insistent to protect our rights to choose to wear a mask ? If the government said it was our best defense against the war , would we help our brothers out ? Makes me wonder .

Buy a Roku, never look back! Even my 80 something year old mum can drive it ... https://www.roku.com/en-gb/products/players

Haha!! I remember that scene (now that you mentioned it). I wonder if one of the TV systems we have in the house will get that for me... I think I need to watch that movie again to refresh my memory. If only I knew how to work the TV systems. We have Netfax and Disney Puss or something like that? I'll need a navigator.

@Diseazdand @siteunseen and others have done some rebuilds, performance and stock. I think that E88 head is going to be a question mark. There are several variations, as I understand things. Not positive though. The Maxima head is used to raise CR. Wouldn't make sense to use a 2mm head gasket with it. Defeats the purpose. @madkaw has done a Maxima head, I think. Good luck. I'd just put a cam in it and some new rings myself. Have you measured the bores? Does it need boring? If not, save the money, the Datsun blocks are tough. Don't forget that with a new cam you'll need new or reground rocker arms. Nickels and dimes will add up.

In case anyone wants to look for the engine. Might raise its value. It's missing. Seem to be a lot of barns getting cleaned out suddenly...

It seems to me that the challenge of modifying the front of the replacement rail is about 10% of the challenge of removing the old rail and installing a new one. It depends on your goals for your car. If preserving visible originality is important to you, then you'll need to do some work on the replacement rail before you weld it into the car. Not that hard. If you'd sooner install a non-stock rad than modify the rail, then your path forward is clear.

Other than pin lubricant, and insuring the pin slides in easily before attempting the re-install, the secret is a way to rotate the pin easily back and forth while you gently push the lock pin into place. It only fits correctly with the pin rotated "just so" making it very tempting to use too much hammer to get that pin to seat. I use a pair of thin M12x1.25 nuts that I lock together back to back on one end of the pin. Then I can put a vise grip on one of them and wiggle/rotate to my hearts content with one hand as I push the lock pin home. I find the pin is never "loose" by any stretch so it takes a bit of force to rotate and push/pull so having a firm nut/pair and vice grip gives you the torque to move it to just the right spot. Here is the result of the last pin pull last week. Yanked the threads right off of both ends of one pin, cut it off then used the air chisel on the middle bit. Popped right out. After that, didn't bother with the other (both of my spindle pin threaded rods now have pin threads stuck in them, humph....) just cut and air chiseled. Both pins where rusted solid into the steel bushings inside the stupid fancy poly bushings that were installed years ago without lube.... All the pin ends are still nicely bonded to the bushing tubes. All four. The lock pin area was clean as a whistle.

I'd like to also kick the engineer in the nuts that had that diagram of the removal procedure sketched in the FSM. The one showing the pin being pulled out with two fingers. I ended up constructing a puller with the help of a local machine shop.

A little-known American automaker has just snatched the title of world's fastest production car. SSC North America announced Monday that its Tuatara hypercar reached an average speed of 316.11 miles per hour during two record-breaking dashes outside Las Vegas. The vehicle, which was tested on a seven-mile stretch of a Nevada highway on Saturday, also reached the highest speed ever achieved on a public road, at 331.15 miles per hour, according to the company. The official top speed of 316 miles per hour is the result of two runs in opposite directions, to account for wind and road variations. SSC said that two independent witnesses were on site to verify the world records. The Tuatara, which has butterfly doors and produces 1,750 horsepower from a turbocharged V-8 engine, is the second vehicle built by SSC to earn the title of world's fastest production car, according to the company. It says the model's aerodynamic design was inspired by fighter jets, taking more than a decade of research and development.

Haha! But with most cars, the little canards and winglets and dips and curves are just there for show. On this car, moving at the speeds it can attain, I bet all that stuff is actually functional! They'd need to fit me with an adult diaper before getting into that thing.

I am sharing to raise awareness of how careful we all need to be. My father, strong as an Ox, a regular mountain hiker, no preexisting issues, contracted Covid19 14 days ago. He went to a pharmacy in a hurry, not wearing a mask and didn’t disinfect his hands either when he came out. That was his only contact with the outside world beyond getting into his car. He was admitted to one of the best private hospitals 6 days after his symptoms took hold. Being a typical stoic man of his generation, he cared for everyone but never wanted anyone to fuss over him, so he resisted calls for him to go to hospital straight away. They put him on Oxygen + some of the same drugs as Trump (so they tell me). On the second day in hospital, he went into a coma. His lungs were struggling to absorb oxygen and his O2 levels progressively dropped from his usual 98 to below 60 (often down to 20). His blood pressure dropped to 40. Ironically his entire adult life he had high blood pressure. For the last 36 years of our 4000 miles separation, I have spent every day wondering if I am getting “that” phone call - and it came yesterday. He passed away from what was effectively oxygen starvation and the subsequent brain damage. I am sad for me but happy and grateful for him - that having lived a long, healthy and rich life, he has ascended without any real suffering or pain. My dad would likely have still been here if he hadn’t been uncharacteristically careless on this single occasion - or characteristically of a strong man, resisted going to hospital in the first few days. I am told early treatment in the first few days is critical to your chances of survival. I have highly intelligent friends that in the past have said, so what if it kills a few, people get hit by a bus all the time. Fortuitously, getting hit by a bus doesn’t kill the last 25 people you came close to that day. What if one of those was their loved one? Please look after yourselves and your families and stay safe. Take nothing for granted! This is not a time to be complacent in anyway or for He-Man antics. We’re all vulnerable no matter what our state of health or age. If this story makes anyone think twice on each occasion they forget their mask or don’t disinfect their hands, then it’s purpose is fulfilled.

Hard to believe that was considered classy at one time, I remember going to the Van O rama cars shows at the Vancouver Coliseum and there would be hundreds of equally classy vans with murals on the sides.

We had one of these and a Sheep Dog in the early 70's. "Barney" would start in the front seat and chase occasional objects to the back when passing. It had a rear window that opened and 3rd row seats in the very back that faced the back. We used to tie fishing line to GI Joes and drag them along the highway.

A few more because... why not! Looks pretty mean with the air dam installed. Ignore the rear ride height, the rear doesn't have coilovers installed yet.

I have seen that dent on many cars. I suspect it is a factory mod to make the fender fit

In my experience clunking when shifting is a diff mount insulator that’s past it’s best. Basically, the nose of the diff lifts when you accelerate, then when you cut the power with the clutch mid shift, the diff “falls” backdown and clunks if the rubber has let go or gone soft. On mine I found that it looked perfect but was completely dead when I took it off. The worst scenario I had a few times was changing up at 6.5k rpm and hearing a very LOUD BANG + feeling a momentary deceleration like touching the brakes - as the input flange kissed the ARB!!!!! [emoji33][emoji33][emoji33]

Given all the bans of public gatherings and events plus the shutdown of some business's, it looks like some of us might get some more quality time with our Z's.